How To Write Job Descriptions

Don't go with the flow

Job descriptions
could and should sweep candidates off their
feet. But all too often we’re content to lean on the old-fashioned
and generic with the result that most job ads are mediocre. We’re
guessing you don’t want to be average. You’re not one of those guys
looking for superheroes who is too lazy to craft a job description
that might actually attract them.

PRO TIP:
The first time we came across
Medium’s
careers page was in Lou
Hoffman’s article: The best job descriptions on the planet. Enough said.

Love at first sight

We all know that applicants like to scan. They want to look at an
opening and be able to recognize in the blink of an eye if it’s their
dream job. Like all busy people they have a thousand things competing
for their attention; especially the passive candidates for
whom you’re trawling. Make every job description seductive. Start
with the job title, keeping in mind that most job boards work like
search engines, therefore candidates use keywords to search for
jobs.

The about-the-company part

This is your chance to make a good first impression, so start thinking
about the distinctive characteristics that make your company
special. The type of job description you publish is closely related to
who you are as an employer. Give them a glimpse of your company
that will charm them into coming to working for you.

PRO TIP:
Check out
Vend.
We couldn’t even choose what our favorite job description
was. We loved them all.

Candidates need to be able to relate to job descriptions on a personal
level. Tell them a story about your company that will make
them sit back and picture themselves working with you. Start with
an educated guess, with something simple, ask for feedback and
then optimise. Ask employees why they enjoy working for your
startup. If you have a marketing department lean on them for some
content marketing advice. Hiring should not to be done in isolation.
You’ll need to put in some extra effort but it will pay off.

The about-the-job part

You know that if you go with the flow then your job descriptions
will be deathly dull but you’re tempted to do so anyway. Because
that’s the way everybody is doing it. But it won’t help your company
stand out it will just add to the mountain of identical job descriptions
that grows larger every day.

How are job seekers (let alone the precious, passive ones) supposed
to spot that you’re offering a dream gig when it looks like a
machine wrote your job description? It’s not necessarily because
they’re not well-written, it’s because they’re presented as if they
were not written by or for a human being. Do everyone a favour
and stick to the important stuff. There are tons of job descriptions
out there listing every tiny little task a future employee might perform.
That’s not the point.

It's all about clarity

Start
writing job descriptions
that build businesses. They will attract
the best talent and convert prospects into candidates. How?

Sell your company and their future in it in an engaging fashion

Get rid of the boring corporate tone

Keep it chatty and friendly

Use words that evoke feelings

Make them aspire and then act on that desire

Use you or we; drop the passive voice

To up the ante you can also add a list of people the future hire will
get to work with on a regular basis.

The about-the-requirements part

We’ve covered the basics in our
“There’s a difference between what you want and what you need”
blog post. If you’ve used Workable
you may have noticed the must-haves and nice-to-haves requirements.
Why did we add this feature? To make sure that candidates won’t
get excluded from the hiring process just because they clicked
“NO” on a secondary skill that is unlikely to be pivotal. Think
about what skills would make sense, adding to the equation the
fact that they are individuals and not miracle workers. Must-have
requirements are the bare minimum: the can’t-live-without list.
Nice-to-have requirements are the extras: they belong on the we-can-live-without list.

PRO TIP:
Worth looking at
KinHR.
They might not have a careers page at the moment
but this sales job description rocks.